Tag Archives: ramen

Asa Ramen

Posted on November 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

Asa Ramen is another ramen bar in Gardena that I remember enjoying, but I’ve only been to this joint a couple of times. It’s only open during dinner hours, never for lunch.

Michelle ordered the Asa Ramen. This broth is a little too sweet for me to want to slurp up after I finish the noodles.

I got the special, the Shio Ramen with chashu. This was delicious, and I was scooping up spoonfuls of this broth and slurping it down.

The only down side to Asa Ramen is that the portions are not very big. When I get a bowl of noodles, I like  to hold it up to my face and have it dwarf my head. If the bowls were as large as Hataka Ramen’s bowls or if they had noodle refills for a dollars, I might be more inclined to come back here more often, but that’s probably the fat American in me talking.

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Ramen Jinya

Posted on October 26, 2010 | 1 Comment

Although it’s quite the trek for us to get there, we decided to try out Ramen Jinya. It has received so much attention as of late that it was worth checking out.

The place is fairly large, definitely much larger than most ramen joints I’m used to seeing.

We were pretty hungry so we ordered a few things to snack on while we waited for the rest of our party. Spicy tuna roll. This was not spicy at all. It was pretty disappointing.

Crispy chicken. This was good. It reminds me of Musha’s Fried Chicken, but it’s definitely not quite as good as that.

Someone ordered a spicy tuna bowl, and by the looks of it and the fact that he kept adding Sriracha, it was the same batch of tuna used to make our sushi.

The gyoza were tasty, definitely a great compliment when you’re eating ramen.

I think I’ve only had one other occasion where the ingredients were placed on a separate plate from the broth and the noodles. I supposed that’s to show that the ingredients are fresh.

Michelle always pics a colorful assortment of ingredients for her dishes.

The soup, the meat, the noodles. The broth in my bowl is the Premium Tonkotsu, which is infused with fish flavor.

So what did we think of Ramen Jinya? We will let our empty dishes start the conversation.

Just because I will finish a dish doesn’t make it perfect. The broth at Ramen Jinya is excellent. While it’s got lots of flavor it doesn’t feel like it’s been pumped with a whole lot of salt to get it there. The noodles are a little bit weak like Daikokuya’s noodles though. They’re a little too limp to earn the Ramen Medal of Honor, an award I just made up right now. While it’s not earning any fictional awards, I would definitely come back to this place if I was in the area. It is a bit of the beaten path for regular visits, but I recommend you check it out at least once.

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Hakata Ramen. Still the best.

Posted on October 18, 2010 | 3 Comments

Taste in food is always open to discussion. Who is to say that we all perceive taste exactly the same way? What may taste like a terrible meal to me (pho), may be the food you (Michelle) would want if you were stuck on a deserted island. To each his own.

Hakata Ramen is probably my favorite noodle joint. The location in Gardena was always a local favorite for Michelle and myself when we were living in the South Bay. It was convenient and delicious.

Last week we decided to check out the location in Rosemead. The ability to custom order how heavy you want your broth and how firm you want your noodles is great. I like my broth to be flavorful but not something that will make me drink gallons of water afterward. Noodles should be like a woman’s derrière, firm. If you disagree, that’s okay. You can make your bowl of ramen the way you like it.

After all that talk about the ramen, I really wish I had a better picture that actually showed the noodles. I’m still learning how to be a food blogger. I like to get the pictures, but really I just want to dig into the food.

Masago.

Spicy miso. Bet you can’t guess whose soup this went into.

Fried fish with cheese inside. Sounds like an odd combination.

But it’s so very good.

Gyoza always compliments a ramen meal well.

Fried squid. The batter they use for this is sweet and light. I like it a lot. Someone should coat everything in this batter and fry it.

There’s a lot of hype out there in the food community about different noodle joints, but after going through the rounds, Hakata Ramen is still my favorite. Waiting in a long line for Daikokuya or trying to figure out what hours Asa is actually open is something I don’t care to waste time on anymore. Hakata has it’s special place in my heart because it’s consistent and convenient, delicious food that’s always there when I need it.

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Daikokuya must have been better in a previous life.

Posted on August 27, 2010 | 1 Comment

Again, hop into my DeLorean and let’s go eat at this spot Daikokuya I just heard about from a friend. Well maybe I didn’t just hear about it but the long lines always deterred me, especially when it’s for ramen. I’ve been spoiled in Gardena where good ramen shops are everywhere and waiting is something you don’t have to consider.

There are probably just as many people standing outside on the sidewalk waiting to get into the joint.

These sausages are good. I haven’t found a sausage that I don’t enjoy in my mouth. Yes, that is what she said.

I don’t know what happened to the gyoza, but they turned into a giant pancake. It’s okay though. They covered it up with a mountain of green onions. No one will know.

This is good ramen. The broth is excellent, definitely some of the best I’ve ever had in all my ramen consumption. The noodles, however, are just okay. When you put that together it’s a bit disappointing after the wait. Perhaps the wait raised my expectations or maybe it was too much to eat before I actually got to the ramen, but I was just expecting more from the fabled Daikokuya.

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Bread is a noodle, right?

Posted on June 25, 2010 | 2 Comments

Noodle Club took a hiatus while Michelle and I went through our premarital counseling sessions. The good news is that we’re done. Now we will never fight again, and we can resume to slurping up some noodles. The obvious choice for noodles is a place called Breadbar, right? Well for a limited time, Breadbar is featuring Yatai Ramen Twist. Who knew good noodles could be had in West Hollywood?

Eight is actually quite a few choices when it comes to ramen. Each one of these is very different from the next.

We started out with some gyoza for appetizers. Pigs Feet Gyoza.

Kale Gyoza as well.

They really couldn’t call it Breadbar without offering us some bread.

Spicy Shoyu Ramen.

Oxtail Ramen.

Foie Gras Ramen.

Afterward we couldn’t help ourselves so we got some dessert. Flourless Chocolate Cake, dusted with powdered sugar.

The folks at Breadbar were kind enough to throw in some other pastries to snack on as well. So much for the diet. Bring on the carbs!

Sacrilicious. *DROOL*

Before I could pull out my camera the Almond Croissant was pretty much all gone. That one was delicious. We were discussing how good the pastries would taste fresh and warm, but I noted that “free” tastes pretty good too. So stop in to Breadbar on 3rd for some delicious carbs, and definitely catch Yatai Ramen Twist while it’s still there. Mondays – Saturdays from 5-10pm through July 24th.

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We Be Clubbing

Posted on October 26, 2009 | 9 Comments

This weekend I got the chance to go to brunch with some friends and we realized if you call everything a club it makes it sound so much cooler. Brunch Club.

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Tavern in Brentwood, CA.

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Chorizo and eggs with sofrito and fried potatoes.

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We had dinner for my dad’s birthday at Musha. The food was delicious as always.

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We made short work of everything.

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Mitsuwa had an Autumn Food Fair. The South Bay chapter of Noodle Club tried the special ramen. The South Bay chapter of noodle club is just Michelle and me, but see how jealous you were before you knew that? Clubs are cool.

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We also picked up this tasty dessert treat. I’m  not big on dessert, but custards are always delicious.

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Just to round off this post, here is a dead, creepy, alien bug I saw this weekend.


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Because we’re Asian…

Posted on September 14, 2009 | 4 Comments

Om nom nom…

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Is it wrong to love a robot?

Posted on July 17, 2009 | 1 Comment

This isn’t a post about I would like to make love to a robot. I’ll save that for another post, but I definitely think I would love this robot…not physically though. Okay maybe.

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This robot makes ramen, 40 million flavors of ramen to be more accurate. I’m pretty sure you can’t taste the difference in about 39.5 million of them, but I’m willing to take that challenge. Who wants to get one of these bad boys for me for Christmas?

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